The Poetic Justice Children’s Literature Project: Restoring and Restorying the Mother-Child Relationship through Self-Published Children’s Literature

WICC2025 Presentation by Kate Turner, Sam Bhatia, and Dr. Reka Bartona (WICC2025-PID029)

Authors

Kate Turner

Poetic Justice California Program Director, Poetic Justice, United States

Kate Turner holds a BA in Literature and Political Science from University of Vermont, a Master’s in Arts in Education from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University, and a Secondary English Teaching Credential from the University of San Diego. Kate has taught rehabilitative arts programming in juvenile facilities and women’s jails and prisons for a combined 10 years. In 2019, after 12 years teaching high school English, Kate left to start the California Chapter of Poetic Justice, and what began with 15 women in one jail in Santee California has grown to 100s of women a year in jails, reentry facilities, and both California state women’s prisons. PJ also has chapters in Oklahoma, Oregon, and Tijuana Mexico. With support from the NEA, California Humanities, California Arts Council, and the San Diego-Tijuana World Design Capital Grant, Kate developed the idea for Voices on the Inside, a multimodal exhibition of self-portrait poetry and photography traveling throughout the country. PJ California now employs 13 formerly incarcerated and/or system-impacted teaching artists who provide weekly poetry classes (ranging from Level IV, I-III, PSU, high power, and Protective Custody), addressing root causes of trauma and pathways toward voice, personal agency, hope, and reconciliation. Kate is currently working to develop the Children’s Literature Initiative, born from PJ participants’ need to learn together how to manage the grief they are feeling while separated from their children, and to create a bridge that connects from their own heart to their child’s. Learn more at www.poeticjustice.org

Samantha Bhatia

Poetic Justice Assistant PD & Lead Teaching Artist, Poetic Justice, United States

Sam Bhatia has been with Poetic Justice since 2022 as a certified poetry arts provider, while attending San Diego State University full time, and working as an investigations intern in the San Diego Public Defender's Office. Sam graduated with degrees in Criminal Justice and Psychology, and soon after took on the additional role of assistant to the Poetic Justice Program Manager. As someone who grew up in a system-impacted community with incarcerated family members, Sam sees her leadership role at Poetic Justice as critical to the work they do to address community harm caused by the carceral system. Sam took on operations responsibilities in January 2024 and has since then continued to build a team that reflects the diverse world we live in, while providing paid opportunities to other system-impacted individuals who would otherwise not be able to do this work. Sam’s role at Poetic Justice has shed light on the truth about providing jobs to formerly incarcerated individuals: they would not otherwise be able to provide their poetry skills and experiences as facilitators due to family obligations, working multiple jobs, and coming from historically resilient communities with limited resources and access.

Dr Reka Bartona

Assistant Professor: Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership, University of Maryland, United States

Reka C. Barton, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Literacy Education at the University of Maryland. Dr. Barton is an educator, curator and craftivist that researches multimodality, multilingualism and multiliteracies in and with communities of Black and Brown women and children in hopes of socially just and more equitable realities. Dr. Barton embeds these approaches in her teaching and service as well. She is a former elementary school teacher, with the majority of her classroom teaching career spent in dual language and urban classrooms. In addition to her classroom experience, she also has expertise in curriculum design, professional development for teachers, and literacy and biliteracy coaching. Dr. Barton teaches courses in children's literature and literacy methods. Her recent publications can be found in Children's Literature in Education, Journal of Language and Literacy Education, and Departures in Critical Qualitative Research.

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